Venezuelan government commits to resolving indigenous Yukpa land issue
March 27, 2013

Following the murder of indigenous Yukpa leader Sabino Romero three weeks ago, a committee of 17 Yukpa met yesterday with the minister for foreign affairs, Elias Jaua, who promised to make payments so their lands could be inhabited by them.

The payments are to compensate land and building renovations made by cattle ranchers who are occupying 25 large land holdings that the Yukpa have legal collective titles to.

On 12 October 2009 the government handed over collective property titles to Yukpa communities, and on 11 October 2011, then President Hugo Chavez publically announced the government would nationalise the 25 ranches, with a total area of 15,810 hectares. Then on 6 May last year Chavez announced the assignation of Bs 259 million to make those nationalisation payments.

Jaua, representing the government, has promised the payments will be made within sixty days.

Romero was murdered on 3 March and until now, no arrests have been made. Two local police have been detained for investigations, then released due to lack of evidence linking them with the crime.

Last year seven Yukpa were also murdered by cattle ranchers or killers hired by them, and many more have been injured. Cattle ranchers have refused to hand over the land to the rightful owners, claiming they haven’t received payments for the land. In response, Yukpa people have occupied some of the large farms, and have been violently removed.

So far, the murderers of the Yukpa remain unpunished.

Romero’s son, who shares the same name, told press after the meeting with Jaua that the Yukpa had demanded the government investigate the crime.

Days after the murder however, the government said it had sent an investigation team to the region, including members of the national intelligence service SEBIN, and the criminal investigation body CICPC.

Homo et Natura reported that the Yukpa are demanding a “holistic” investigation which includes the other seven Yukpa murdered. They also demanded that Captain Lopez and other soldiers be detained and judged, for allegedly allowing the two hired killers to flee on their motorbike after killing Sabino. Further, they requested that two other individuals be detained for allegedly beating Sabino and his family and making death threats.

The Yukpa met with Zulia governor Francisco Arias  last week, who then arranged the meeting with Jaua in Caracas. Jaua, previously vice-president of Venezuela, has also been minister for agriculture, and the director of the land institute, Inti.

The Yukpa live in the Perija region of Zulia state. The region is one of Venezuela’s key producers of milk and beef, and there are also certain mining interests there.

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Chavez muses on US Latin America cancer plot: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has questioned whether the US has developed a secret technology to give cancer to left-wing leaders in Latin America.
(Originally posted on December 28, 2011)

Treated for cancer this year, Mr Chavez was speaking a day after news that Argentina’s president had the disease. Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and her predecessor Lula have also had cancer.

Mr Chavez said this was ‘very strange’ but stressed that he was thinking aloud rather than making any accusations. He said the instances of cancer among Latin American leaders were “difficult to explain using the law of probabilities”.

“Would it be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it?” Mr Chavez asked in a televised speech to soldiers at an army base.

Who next?
Mr Chavez noted that US government scientists had infected Guatemalan prisoners with syphilis and other diseases in the 1940s, but that this had only come to light last year.

And he joked that he would now take extra care of the presidents of Bolivia and Ecuador - Evo Morales and Rafael Correa - lest they also be diagnosed with cancer.

The Venezuelan leader, who is 57, has often accused the US of plotting to overthrow or even kill him.

The exact details of his illness have not been made public, fuelling speculation that his condition may be worse than he has let on.

Mr Chavez was the first regional leader to offer support to the Argentine President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, after it was announced on Tuesday that she had thyroid cancer.

“We will live and we will conquer!” he told her.

Ms Fernandez, 58, is due to have an operation on 4 January, but doctors say her prognosis is very good.

Survivors’ summit

Doctors treating former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for throat cancer say the 66-year-old is responding well to chemotherapy and should make a full recovery.

Dilma Rousseff, 64 - who took over from Lula as Brazilian president a year ago - is fully recovered after receiving treatment for lymphoma cancer in 2009.

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, 60, was diagnosed with lymphoma in August 2010 but is now in remission after chemotherapy.

Lula and Mr Chavez have previously joked that they would hold a summit of Latin American leaders who had beaten cancer.

Ms Fernandez has now said that she will insist on being the “honorary president” of the summit of cancer survivors.

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As of August 29, 2012:

Julian Assange granted political asylum in Ecuador
August 14, 2012

Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa has agreed to give Julian Assange asylum, officials within Ecuador’s government have said.

The WikiLeaks founder has been holed up at Ecuador’s London embassy since June 19, when he officially requested political asylum.

“Ecuador will grant asylum to Julian Assange,” said an official in the Ecuadorean capital Quito, who is familiar with the government discussions.

On Monday, Correa told state-run ECTV that he would decide this week whether to grant asylum to Assange. Correa said a large amount of material about international law had to be examined to make a responsible informed decision.

Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patiño indicated that the president would reveal his answer once the Olympic Games were over. But it remains unclear if giving Assange asylum will allow him to leave Britain and fly to Ecuador, or amounts to little more than a symbolic gesture. At the moment he faces the prospect of arrest as soon as he leaves the embassy for breaching his bail conditions.

“For Mr Assange to leave England, he should have a safe pass from the British [government]. Will that be possible? That’s an issue we have to take into account,” Patino told Reuters on Tuesday.

Government sources in Quito confirmed that despite the outstanding legal issues Correa would grant Assange asylum – a move which would annoy Britain, the US and Sweden. They added that the offer was made to Assange several months ago, well before he sought refuge in the embassy, and following confidential negotiations with senior London embassy staff.

The official with knowledge of the discussions said the embassy had discussed Assange’s asylum request. The British government, however, “discouraged the idea,” the offical said. The Swedish government was also “not very collaborative”, the official said.

The official added: “We see Assange’s request as a humanitarian issue. The contact between the Ecuadorean government and WikiLeaks goes back to May 2011, when we became the first country to see the leaked US embassy cables completely declassified … It is clear that when Julian entered the embassy there was already some sort of deal. We see in his work a parallel with our struggle for national sovereignty and the democratisation of international relations.”

Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct. He is said to be living in one room of the diplomatic building, where he has a high-speed internet connection.

Ecuadorean diplomats believe Assange is at risk of being extradited from Sweden to the US, where he could face the death penalty. Assange’s supporters claim the US has already secretly indicted him following WikiLeaks’ release in 2010 of US diplomatic cables, as well as classified Afghan and Iraq war logs.

Correa and Patiño have both said that Ecuador will take a sovereign decision regarding Assange. They say they view his case as a humanitarian act, and are seeking to protect Assange’s right to life and freedom. On Monday the state-run newspaper El Telégrafo confirmed a decision had been made, although the paper did not specify what that decision was. It said that senior officials had been meeting in the past few days to iron out the last legal details.

Two weeks ago Assange’s mother Christine Assange paid Ecuador an official visit, following an invitation by Ecuador’s foreign affairs ministry. She met with Correa and Patiño, as well as with other top politicians, including Fernando Cordero, head of Ecuador’s legislature. Both Patiño and Ms Assange appeared visibly touched during a press conference, which had to be briefly suspended when Ms Assange started crying.

Ms Assange also held several public meetings in government buildings, and in one case she was accompanied by the head of Assange’s defence team, Baltasar Garzón, the former Spanish judge who ordered the London arrest of Chile’s General Pinochet.

Other top political figures in Ecuador have been vocal about the government’s support of Assange’s bid. “Our comrade the president, who leads our international policy, will grant Julian Assange asylum,” said María Augusta Calle, a congresswoman of the president’s party, and former head of the Sovereignty, Foreign Affairs and Latin American Integration Commission during the 2008 Constitutional Assembly, during a meeting with Ms Assange.

Over the past year and a half, Assange has remained in touch with Ecuador’s embassy in London. In April, he interviewed President Correa for his TV show on Russia Today, the English-language channel funded by the Russian government. The interview, which lasted 75 minutes, included a pally exchange in which Assange and Correa bonded over freedom of speech and the negative role of the US in Latin America. At one point Correa joked: “Are you having a lot of fun with the interview, Julian?” Assange replied: “I’m enjoying your jokes a great deal, yes.”

Correa has made international headlines this year for what critics have called a government crackdown on private media. Analysts say that granting the WikiLeaks founder asylum could be a way for him to depict himself as a champion of freedom of speech ahead of the February 2013 presidential elections, in which he is expected to run again.

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Amazing news. Now truth advocates must show support to Ecuador given that many have promised trade sanctions with the country if it was to grant asylum. 

Wikileaks has exposed so much corruption, horrendous war crimes & injustices all over the world. Julian Assange is a true journalist & hero. 

Correa: Ecuador hopes to decide on Assange asylum this week

August 14, 2012

Ecuador is likely to announce a decision on whether to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before the end of the week in a case with diplomatic implications around the world, President Rafael Correa said on Monday.

Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sex crime allegations.

The former computer hacker, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables, says he fears he could be sent to the United States, where he believes his life would be at risk.

“We have to review the process in Sweden,” Correa said in a television interview. “We have to look at the possibility that he may be extradited to the United States, that there may be a secret court there, that he may face the death penalty.

“We expect to have a meeting on Wednesday (with Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino) and I hope to make an announcement before the end of the week.”

Leftist leader Correa said he sympathizes with Assange but also feels respect for the British legal system and for international law. He said his government already has gathered enough information to take a responsible decision.

Neither U.S. nor Swedish authorities have charged Assange with anything. Swedish prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two WikiLeaks supporters in 2010. Assange says he had consensual sex with the women.

It is not clear how Assange would travel to Ecuador if he is granted asylum. By diplomatic convention, British police cannot enter the embassy without Ecuador’s approval. But he has no way of boarding a plane to Ecuador without passing through London and exposing himself to arrest.

Correa last month met with Assange’s mother, who traveled to the Andean country to plead for her son’s asylum request. Patino also met with former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, who was appointed to head Assange’s legal team.

Julian Assange has been inside Ecuador’s embassy in London since June 19, 2012.

Source

WikiLeaks hit by week-long DDoS attack and President Correa could make announcement on Assange today.

August 13, 2012

WikiLeaks, a website that publishes classified documents from anonymous sources, says it’s been the victim of a sustained denial-of-service attack which has left its website sluggish or inaccessible for more than a week.

In a statement released late Saturday the group said the assault intensified around the beginning of August and has since expanded to include attacks against affiliated sites.

Denial-of-service attacks work by overwhelming websites with requests for information. WikiLeaks has said it’s been flooded with 10 gigabits per second of bogus traffic from thousands of different Internet addresses.

Josh Corman, with online content delivery company Akamai, characterized that as “a bit larger” than attacks commonly seen in the past few years.

WikiLeaks was created by Julian Assange, who came under fire for heading the organization that leaked secret government documents.

Source

In related news, Ecuador could soon reveal whether it will grant asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up at the country’s embassy in Britain for nearly two months.

Quito announced last month it would respond to the request after the Olympic Games in London, which wrapped up on Sunday.

President Rafael Correa is due to appear on state television this afternoon (AEST).

However, government officials were unable to say whether he would announce a decision at that time.

Source

In other Chevron news: Chevron faces deadline in $19 billion Ecuador case
August 7, 2012

U.S. oil giant Chevron has until midnight tonight to pay a US $19.04 billion Ecuador court judgment for polluting Amazon waterways or officially default and face another lawsuit to seize its assets, this time in Ecuador. Such collection lawsuits are pending against Chevron in Canada and Brazil.

Ecuador Judge Liliana Ortiz on Friday signed an order giving Chevron until midnight tonight to deposit the funds necessary to remediate the oil contamination, which included the dumping of more than 16 billion gallons of toxic waste from oil production into Amazon waterways.

Judge Ortiz’s order comes after almost 19 years of litigation.

The case, Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco, began on November 3, 1993 when 30,000 indigenous people and farmers from Ecuador’s Amazon filed a class action suit against Texaco in New York federal court alleging massive oil contamination of the rainforest.

For 10 years, Texaco argued before U.S. judges that the case should be transferred to Ecuador’s courts. In 2002, a U.S. federal judge granted Texaco’s motion and removed the case to Ecuador on the condition that Texaco submit to jurisdiction there and be bound by any ruling of the Ecuadorian courts.

In the meantime, Chevron bought Texaco in 2001, assuming its liabilities and defense of the case.

Texaco operated in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992, building hundreds of oil production facilities. The trial judge in Lagio Agrio found overwhelming evidence that the company dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways as a cost-saving measure.

Five indigenous groups in the area have been harmed by the pollution that covers an area the size of Rhode Island. The contamination also caused an outbreak of cancer that has killed or threatens to kill thousands of people in the area, according to evidence before the court.

Judge Ortiz’s order is the final step under Ecuador civil procedure to certify the 188-page trial court judgment, which was issued on February 11, 2011. That judgement was unanimously affirmed on appeal in early January. It set the amount of the judgment at $18.2 billion.

Last week, Judge Ortiz raised the final amount of the award to $19.041 billion after calculating various mandatory costs required by Ecuador law.

Chevron stripped most of its primary assets, including service stations, from Ecuador years ago and the company no longer operates in the country.

Pablo Fajardo, the lead Ecuador lawyer on the case, says that for practical purposes, Judge Ortiz’s order allows the rainforest communities to execute the Ecuador judgment against Chevron’s remaining assets in their home country.

Fajardo estimates Chevron’s remaining assets in Ecuador are worth roughly $200 million, including a $96 million court judgment the company won recently in an international arbitration proceeding against Ecuador’s government.

Judge Ortiz’s order also puts the plaintiffs in a stronger legal position to pursue recognition of the Ecuador judgment abroad under various international treaties and domestic law statutes.

Collection lawsuits are pending against Chevron in Canada and Brazil, where the company has billions of dollars worth of assets. The plaintiffs are asking courts to seize to seize these assets to satisfy the judgment and finance a cleanup of the oil contamination, said Fajardo.

“People in Ecuador are dying because of Chevron’s pollution and company’s utter contempt for the rule of law,” said Fajardo. “Chevron is going to have to be forced by courts to comply with its legal obligations.”

Chevron maintains the plaintiffs’ allegations that it is responsible for alleged environmental and social harms in the Oriente region of Ecuador are “false.”
  
Chevron says the company never conducted oil production operations in Ecuador, and its subsidiary Texaco Petroleum Co. (TexPet) “fully remediated its share of environmental impacts arising from oil production operations, before leaving Ecuador in 1992.”

“After the remediation was certified by all agencies of the Ecuadorian government responsible for oversight, TexPet received a complete release from Ecuador’s national, provincial, and municipal governments that extinguished all claims before Chevron acquired TexPet in 2001,” the company says.

“All legitimate scientific evidence exonerates Chevron and proves that the remediated sites pose no significant risks to human health or the environment,” Chevron says on its website.

If Chevron refuses to pay the court judgment, the company will face a greater risk of liability in the enforcement actions already pending, said Karen Hinton, the U.S. spokesperson for the indigenous and farmer plaintiffs.

If Chevron defaults, Fajardo said his legal team will file court actions to seize the intellectual property rights of various Chevron brands in Ecuador, including Havoline.

Source

From August 03 - lots of important tidbits & an interesting discussion about the impact of Wikileaks in Latin America.

“The only country sure to never have a coup d’état is the United States, because it doesn’t have a U.S. embassy.”

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No decision on Assange until after the Olympics

July 27, 2012

Ecuador’s foreign minister says there will be no decision until after the Summer Olympics on the political exile request of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters Wednesday it would be imprudent to announce a decision during the London Games, which begin Friday and end Aug. 12.

Hopefully, this is an indication that a decision has been reached (in Assange’s favor) and that Ecuador is just waiting for the best time to release the information.

Also, instead of another picture of Julian Assange (we’ve pretty much posted all the good ones), I thought I’d attach some beautiful pictures of Ecuador (in case you have no idea what to picture when we talk about it). I think as far as places to live in exile go, you could do worse than Ecuador. The largest picture is the capital city, Quito.

Celebrated Spanish judge (& friend of Ecuador) Garzon to head Assange legal team

July 25, 2012

Famous Spanish human rights investigator Baltasar Garzon will lead the legal team representing WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, the whistleblower website announced on Tuesday.

Garzon, best known for issuing an international arrest warrant against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, recently met with Assange at the embassy to discuss a new legal strategy, according to a statement approved by both men.

According to the release, the aim is to “defend both WikiLeaks and Julian Assange from the existing abuse of process and expose the arbitrary, extrajudicial actions by the international financial system” against the former hacker and his website.

Garzon will also strive to “show how the secret US processes against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have compromised and contaminated other legal processes, including the extradition process against Mr Assange,” it added.

The judge has previously voiced concern over the alleged lack of safeguards and transparency involved in actions against Assange.

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Photo source

More on Wikileaks & Assange from The People’s Record

Climate change destroys lives of Ecuadorian village farmers

July 23, 2012

Frosts aren’t on time for the 960 people living in this tiny, remote village, hidden on a chilly, windswept mountain ridge in South America.

A minor problem? Maybe for some. But in the Andean community, 8,800 feet above sea level, frosts - and their impact on crop cycles - are kind of a big deal.

In this agricultural community, crops are planted during the full moon, a tradition meant to help ensure a full harvest. But these days, the harvests aren’t as full.

Village residents say it’s the mark of climate change descending upon the Ayaloman people.

“In Ecuador, we’ve really experienced a sudden change in our climate,” said Ana Loja, a professor at the University of Cuenca, in the Andes of southern Ecuador. “We cannot say, ‘Maybe this is not happening,’ but I think everyone is aware it is a real problem.”

Ecuador isn’t alone. Since the early 20th century, global average temperature has increased by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The warming is caused by atmospheric heat-trapping emissions, primarily carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, development experts say climate change is slowly but surely showing its effects. By 2050, the world’s expected temperature rise of about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit will cost the region more than $100 billion annually, according to a recent report by the Inter-American Development Bank, which finances research and development efforts in the region.

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Photo source

(Source: )

Assange isn’t turning himself over to the police until Ecuador reaches a decision

July 04, 2012

WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange has defied a British police summons and won’t be leaving the Ecuadorean Embassy in London until he hears about his asylum bid, a member of his defense fund said Friday.

British police had demanded that the silver-haired computer expert report to a London police station Friday, the first step in what would have been his extradition to Sweden over sex crime allegations.

But Susan Benn, a member of his defense fund, said he would rebuff the U.K. authorities.

“Mr. Assange has been advised that he should decline the police request,” she told reporters gathered outside the embassy, saying that the 40-year-old Australian was seeking asylum from Ecuador and that “asylum assessments take priority over extradition claims.”

Source

More Wikileaks news.

More July 4 leftist and protest news.

(Source: )

Christine Assange Interview Pt. 2: Asylum in Ecuador and the future of Wikileaks

June 28, 2012

As Wikileaks founder Julian Assange enters the ninth day in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, his mother, Christine Assange continues to be an outspoken advocate for free press and free information. Christine herself has become an information powerhouse of sorts, spending her days recapping facts of the case to various media outlets because information is power and will be the ultimate key to Julian’s freedom, she insists.

“What we’ve got is an information war,” Christine said. “People can support Julian on the principle of the matter, but they are much more authentic if they can argue the full facts.”

She speaks to her son regularly, reassuring that he is in “good spirits” and being treated very well in the embassy. Christine adds that surprisingly, he’s more relaxed than she’s seen him in a long time.

Even with financial blockades, extradition threats, house arrest without any criminal charges and even politicians advocating his assassination, Julian still has a “fighting spirit,” Christine said. Supporters around the world are powering him to keep Wikileaks alive to spearhead the fight for transparency, she said. The world needs whistleblowers like Julian exposing horrific American war crimes, especially in the time of the Barack Obama, a “rogue dictator.”

“Through the Wikileaks cables, the United States revealed themselves to be global tyrants,” Christine said. “Because they couldn’t discredit the cables, they had to pressure for a financial blockade on Wikileaks.”

Since December 2010, MasterCard, Visa, Bank of America, PayPal and Western Union have all prevented customers from donating to Wikileaks, blocking 95 percent of its donations.

During Julian’s stay at the embassy, Christine said he’ll be working on the case fighting against Valitor, an Icelandic company that processes Wikileaks’ donations, over suspension of financial services. The case is the first of many against various other banking blocks. The financial blockades have cost Wikileaks nearly $20 million in donations.

Ecuador’s ambassadors have been welcoming of Julian, and hopes of her son being approved for political asylum are high; however, she still stresses the importance of political pressure.

In the nine days since Julian has took refuge in the embassy, more than 10,000 emails of support have poured into Ecuador’s US and UK embassies. Just Foreign Policy, a civil liberties activist group, has also sent a letter advocating asylum for Julian to Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa. The letter included signatures of directors Michael Moore and Oliver Stone, activist Noam Chomsky and actor Danny Glover.

Christine urges free information advocates to write a letter of support, spread information online, but most importantly, take the fight for information out onto the streets. If we don’t fight for a free press, we will lose it altogether, she said.

“Get off Twitter, and get to that rally,” Christine said. “We need bodies in the streets. There’s lots of support online, but the average person doesn’t see that. We need thousands of people on the street supporting what Julian is doing.”

If asylum isn’t granted, Christine said her son will apply for political asylum elsewhere and appeal to the Court of Human Rights. But even if Julian ends up in the hands of the United States justice system, she assures Wikileaks will continue.

“Pandora’s box is open and will not be shut,” Christine said. “This is the new way information is going to be spread.” -G. Razo

(Source: thepeoplesrecord.com)

“Ecuador will no longer send members of its armed forces nor its police to the sadly famous former School of the Americas in the United States.”

June 27, 2012

Ecuador will no longer send troops to the U.S. military training school at Fort Benning, Ga., formerly known as the School of the Americas (SOA), whose graduates have been implicated in human rights abuses, the country’s foreign minister announced Wednesday afternoon.

The announcement, first reported by the Spanish news agency EFE, comes after a meeting Wednesday between Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa and members of SOA Watch, a group founded by Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois to work for the closure of the military training school.

Confirming the news Wednesday, Ecuadoran foreign minister Ricardo Patiño posted on Twitter in Spanish that “Ecuador will no longer send members of its armed forces nor its police to the sadly famous former School of the Americas in the United States.”

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